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30 June 2016

This is the European bird who shoots out of the Cuckoo Clock every hour or half-hour or quarter-hour and sings "cuckoo!"The cuckoo is ... well, rather than be judgmental and moralistic, the technical name for such birds is parasitic. The female lays her single egg in another non-cuckoo's unguarded nest among that bird's eggs. Then the cuckoo flies away and leaves the hatching and feeding and rearing to the non-cuckoo.

The cuckoo egg hatches first, and when the other eggs hatch, the cuckoo hatchling bullies and starves and shoves the other hatchlings out of the nest to their death.

I heard from an old pal today. A wonderful old pal. The note made my spirit warm, like the sun warms your skin on the first hot day after months of nothing but shivering cold or worse.

I can't remember if I'd planned to have a bad or mediocre day, but since I've read his short note, I've had no choice, I've been condemned to a day of gentle smiling and happiness. Maybe a week, maybe more. I'll let you know when it wears off.

And of course the short note irradiated only Good & Positive & Pleasant radiation. It didn't say "Where's the goddam $90 you owe me?" Nor did it say "Enclosed find the $90 you graciously loaned me in 2008, plus accrued interest."

Since I began, at first by purest accident, collecting clues about and glimpses of this human, it's not just his Certified (by Vleeptron Dude) Swell Vibes that warm my spirit.

Well, the Purest Accident was that I clicked on his Invention. And I was, from that instant, gobsmacked, I just plotzed and have been plotzing ever since at this Invention. And my old pal invented it.

So he's not just a guy I'd like to go bowling or canoeing with this weekend -- although that kind of thing is Not Chopped Liver, it is Inherently & Sufficiently Swell.

You don't need to sing like BledsoeYou can tell the world I said soNo sirree just simply beMy mother's son-in law ...

-- Alberta Nichols, Mann Holiner cover by Billie Holiday

But wow, what an Invention."Gee, Dad -- it's a Wurlitzer!"Not like the Large Hadron Collider, said to be the world's largest machine. My pal's invention was relatively simple. And small,light and extremely portable.And CHEAP!

Technically, theoretically -- creating and assembling it -- I could have done it, I've wallowed sufficiently in that Shop Class. I could have fixed my pal's Amazing Carburetor. I could have got his Amazing Heathkit TG-4 Solid-State Audio Tone Generator working to factory specs again. I got the tools and the know-how.But I didn't. My pal did. My pal thunk up the Wish, the Human Need for the thing in the first place. Heretofore hardly anybody even asked for this thing out loud. There were whispers, hints, gossip. But they were vague, fuzzy. Nothing that could do anything anybody wanted or enjoyed.

But he solidified it into a Big Damn Clear Specific Meme, and then he made it. And started distributing it to the rest of the human race (who very quickly realized they wanted it, and told their pals, who told their pals, who told their pals). Or Aliens or Non-Humans or AI, for all I know. I know a lot of Robots use the Invention, Robots are just hog-wild over my pal's invention.But I got one. And it's been nothing but ... well, okay, once in a Blue Moon it breaks down in some way and I'm frustrated and irate and pissed off for a day or three until I figure out how to get it running again.

But the rest of the time (okay, hundreds, eeek maybe thousands of hours -- and it's NOT some dumb computer game. I am NOT DukeSwaaazhg) what this invention does is ALL REAL GOOD.

I'm not going to tell you what it is. But you can guess if you want. I'll tell you if you're right.

Or maybe I'll lie. No Pizza.

Okay, 1 Hint: My old pal's name and invention have appeared on Vleeptron before.{End Hint}

Included in my hints & glimpses are clear evidence that he is a Human Earth Dweller, and has to endure the same sorts of Crappy Slings & Arrows of Outrageous Fortune that Earth Life is wont to generously distribute, and try to duck them as best he can. But he has budgeted his Life Time (my teachers ceaselessly told me that Budgeting My Time would be the Magic Key to Limitless Success) so that he can manage to barely duck the world's worst crap, AND cobble togetherANDdistribute his Amazing Invention.

Neat trick.

I'm not sure I possess those horoscopic planetary allignments and personality traits. I can do some Certified (by Vleeptron Dude) Neat Tricks, but pal's Thing was a Rocko-Socko Erupting Hot Volcano of a Meme.

A few posts ago Vleeptron Dude admitted to rare but occasional bouts of the Accidie -- during which all V-Dude can manage to do is drool and pee. And fart, if all I can manage to eat is canned/tinned beans.

Find goats farting in the following(1 slice plain from a fast-food highway chain):

Oh, okay, here's more hints about My Pal's Amazing Invention: it went zip when it movedand bop when it stoppedand whirrr when it stood stillI never knew just what it was and I guess I never willthe first time that I picked it upi had a big surprisecause right on the bottom were two big buttonsthat looked like big green eyesi first pushed one and then the otherthen I twisted its lidand when I set it down againhere is what it did

it went zip when it movedand bop when it stoppedand whirrr when it stood stillI never knew just what it was and I guess I never will

27 June 2016

Wikipedia: The one-horse shay is a light, covered, two-wheeled carriage for two persons, drawn by a single horse ... colloquially known in the USA as a 'one-hoss shay.'

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I promised a Religion That Makes Sense. For 1/2 Pizza with Vidalia onions ...

What authentic famous real religion (with lots of people and lots of houses of worship) is this poem ridiculing and making fun of?

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The great Lisbon earthquake can also be found in Voltaire's "Candide."

This Oliver Wendell Holmes is Dad. His Son, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932.

===================

The Deacon’s Masterpieceor, the Wonderful "One-hoss Shay":A Logical Story

by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 - 1894)

Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,That was built in such a logical wayIt ran a hundred years to a day,And then, of a sudden, it — ah, but stay,I’ll tell you what happened without delay,Scaring the parson into fits,Frightening people out of their wits, —Have you ever heard of that, I say?

Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.Georgius Secundus was then alive, —Snuffy old drone from the German hive.That was the year when Lisbon-townSaw the earth open and gulp her down,And Braddock’s army was done so brown,Left without a scalp to its crown.It was on the terrible Earthquake-dayThat the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.

Now in building of chaises, I tell you what,There is always somewhere a weakest spot, —In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill,In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill,In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace, — lurking still,Find it somewhere you must and will, —Above or below, or within or without, —And that’s the reason, beyond a doubt,A chaise breaks down, but doesn’t wear out.

But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do,With an “I dew vum,” or an “I tell yeou”)He would build one shay to beat the taown’N’ the keounty ’n’ all the kentry raoun’;It should be so built that it couldn’ break daown:“Fur,” said the Deacon, “’tis mighty plainThut the weakes’ place mus’ stan’ the strain;’N’ the way t’ fix it, uz I maintain, Is only jestT’ make that place uz strong uz the rest.”

So the Deacon inquired of the village folkWhere he could find the strongest oak,That couldn’t be split nor bent nor broke, —That was for spokes and floor and sills;He sent for lancewood to make the thills;The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees,The panels of white-wood, that cuts like cheese,But lasts like iron for things like these;The hubs of logs from the “Settler’s ellum,” —Last of its timber, — they couldn’t sell ’em,Never an axe had seen their chips,And the wedges flew from between their lips,Their blunt ends frizzled like celery-tips;Step and prop-iron, bolt and screw,Spring, tire, axle, and linchpin too,Steel of the finest, bright and blue;Thoroughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide;Boot, top, dasher, from tough old hideFound in the pit when the tanner died.That was the way he “put her through.”“There!” said the Deacon, “naow she’ll dew!”

Do! I tell you, I rather guessShe was a wonder, and nothing less!Colts grew horses, beards turned gray,Deacon and deaconess dropped away,Children and grandchildren — where were they?But there stood the stout old one-hoss shayAs fresh as on Lisbon-earthquake-day!

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED; — it came and foundThe Deacon’s masterpiece strong and sound.Eighteen hundred increased by ten; —“Hahnsum kerridge” they called it then.Eighteen hundred and twenty came; —Running as usual; much the same.Thirty and forty at last arrive,And then come fifty, and FIFTY-FIVE.

Little of all we value hereWakes on the morn of its hundreth yearWithout both feeling and looking queer.In fact, there’s nothing that keeps its youth,So far as I know, but a tree and truth.(This is a moral that runs at large;Take it. — You’re welcome. — No extra charge.)

FIRST OF NOVEMBER, — the Earthquake-day, —There are traces of age in the one-hoss shay,A general flavor of mild decay,But nothing local, as one may say.There couldn’t be, — for the Deacon’s artHad made it so like in every partThat there wasn’t a chance for one to start.For the wheels were just as strong as the thills,And the floor was just as strong as the sills,And the panels just as strong as the floor,And the whipple-tree neither less nor more,And the back crossbar as strong as the fore,And spring and axle and hub encore.And yet, as a whole, it is past a doubtIn another hour it will be worn out!

First of November, ’Fifty-five!This morning the parson takes a drive.Now, small boys, get out of the way!Here comes the wonderful one-hoss shay,Drawn by a rat-tailed, ewe-necked bay.“Huddup!” said the parson. — Off went they.The parson was working his Sunday’s text, —Had got to fifthly, and stopped perplexedAt what the — Moses — was coming next.All at once the horse stood still,Close by the meet’n’-house on the hill.First a shiver, and then a thrill,Then something decidedly like a spill, —And the parson was sitting upon a rock,At half past nine by the meet’n-house clock, —Just the hour of the Earthquake shock!What do you think the parson found,When he got up and stared around?The poor old chaise in a heap or mound,As if it had been to the mill and ground!You see, of course, if you’re not a dunce,How it went to pieces all at once, —All at once, and nothing first, —Just as bubbles do when they burst.

I don't think it's worth a kosher pizza to guess where these posters were recently displayed. But feel free to Leave a Comment, and if you guess wrong, you get to sit in a corner wearing a dunce cap.

It's A-VP's understanding that the municipal authorities eventually removed the posters.

Note that the left language is English (in the spelling of USA English rather than UK or Commonwealth spelling). Somebody made a choice for a second language that the most (female) visitors could understand, and they picked English -- in the Occident and lots of the Mysterious East, this era's Lingua Franca.

But notice that all "suggestions" apply only to females, to girls and women. So, respect for religious customs aside, the posters reflect a religious group whose males set the rules for females. (Not just their females, but tourist females too.)

Notice also that these "requests" are specifically required by G-d (a common spelling convention that reflects the decalogue commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"). So this G-d

* is clearly male, no doubt about it, and

* has specific requirements regarding the clothing of all females.

I'm certainly not kicking just this one faith community for its G-d-decreed male-o-centricity. Throw a dart at the globe and it'll almost certainly hit a religious community whose Big Cheeses are exclusively male, and whose females act and dress as the Big Cheeses insist.

One attractive aspect of atheism is that, lacking a G-d to tell folks what to do, atheists have far more freedom to wear whatever they like, including nothing or nearly nothing. (It is lawful for females to go topless in public in Ontario, Canada.)

I have a chat pal from Turkey who ferociously stands up for her right to go to the beach in a bikini. I guess about 90 percent of Turkey are Muslims, but since the Ataturk-led overthrow of the Ottomans (circa 1921-1924), Turkey has replaced religious authority with a secular government which heavily rules in non-religious directions.

My born and educated religious identity is (((Jewish))), but in my long path to my current dotage, I have embraced or flirted with or studied several other religious traditions. If we look on religions as a fair, open and competitive market, some of the stalls I've lingered longest at have included

* thePythagorean Mystery Cult -- where Ultimate Reality consists entirely of the positive whole numbers; all else, however real it seems, is just a fuzzy distorted illusion of the positive whole numbers.

* Spinozan Pantheism -- the equation of Nature and God. i.e., when we have discovered everything about the material universe, we have discovered God, and there is nothing more to discover about God.

(A consequence of this innocent little belief is that God does not anoint monarchs; God exclusively evolves the material universe, and takes no notice of the governance or belief systems of humans. Nor does God snatch adorable little innocent girls from the path of speeding trolleys.)

I know Doris Lessing led a Sufi salon in London, so Sufi doesn't seem to be a male-o-centric belief system. * Every time I bump into Pataphysics, it grabs me by the necktie and drags me into its weird little circus/carnival alley. I think I'm now an official Satrap of the College of Pataphysics.

From its birth (circa 500 BCE), the Pythagorean Mystery Cult was an equal-opportunity belief system for both genders. All an adept had to do was study for and pass a rigorous geometry test and swear never to eat beans. The neighbors of Pythagoras' commune -- in Magna Graecia, Italy -- burned the place down twice."I'm so glad I took geometry. Hardly a day goes by when I don't have to do a proof."

-- I forget which USA comedian

In "The White Goddess,"Robert Graves postulates that Sufi is a direct but later evolution of the Pythagorean Mystery Cult.

"In the winter, I'm a Buddhist; in the summer, I'm a nudist!"

-- Professor Seagull

I'm tired and want to sleep now. Leave Some Comments. Burn me at the stake. Attack me with machetes. (I know a place, well, a few places, where guys jump out of dark alleys and kill bloggers with machetes. Bloggers. They're killing bloggers.)

Join the College of Pataphysics.

There exists no largest prime number(and I can prove it).

For brilliant new Number Theory equations, dream of the Goddess Namagiri(a local -- Tamil Nadu -- avatar of Lakshmi). (Keep pencil and paper by your bedside to write down the equations Namagiri whispered to you. She also gives valuable career and life counseling advice in the dreams of your mother.)

25 June 2016

The Associated PressUSA NewswireSaturday 25 June 2016PETALUMA, California USA -- A 17-year-old Chinese Crested Chihuahua with legs bowed out like a frog and an oozing sore is the winner of this year’s World’s Ugliest Dog contest.SweePee Rambo took home the title at the annual Petaluma World’s Ugliest Dog contest Friday night at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds after besting 15 other malformed pooches, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported Saturday.

Judges in the contest, now on its 28th year, take into account bad appearance, including stench, poor complexion and a host of other inherited and acquired maladies.

SweePee has a mohawk that glistens in the sun and a tongue that sticks out. She is blind in both eyes and has to wear doggie diapers.

Owner Jason Wurtz, 44, of Encino, said he got the dog as a gift for his first wife but after a week she didn’t want anything to do with the gremlin-like pooch. Wurtz, however, said he couldn’t bear to let her go, calling her a “ride or die chick” in the description he wrote for the contest.

When the 4-pound Chinese Crested Chihuahua mix was announced the winner, Wurtz’s younger brother, Jeffrey Wurtz, burst into tears, shouting SweePee’s name, and shaking a homemade sign that read “SweePee Rambo for President 2016.”

The presidential election was a theme present in the contest.

One pup named Himisaboo, who didn’t place, had a flowing golden tuft that resembled that of the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

“Whether you love him, or loathe him, a vote for Himisaboo is a vote for a dog that looks like Donald Trump,” said Heather Wilson, Himisaboo’s owner, who drove out from Idaho for the occasion.

Jason Wurtz and SweePee took the first-place title and trophy and a prize of $15,000. He says he will use the money to pay for the removal of a tumor that recently popped up on SweePee’s gum line.

24 June 2016

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) -- As many as 40 people were injured after walking on hot coals as part of a self-help seminar hosted by motivational speaker Tony Robbins in Texas, fire officials said on Friday.

Attendees of the “Unleash the Power Within” event, held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas, reported burns to their feet and legs just after 11 p.m. Thursday, Dallas Fire and Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said.

“A lot of the attendees were asked to walk across hot coals, and as a result, a lot of the people sustained burn injuries,” Evans said.

Of the 30 to 40 people injured, five were treated at the Parkland Hospital burn unit, Evans said. The others were treated and released at the scene. It was unclear how many participated in the coal walk.

The three-day seminar is intended to help people “break through any limit” and improve their quality of life, according a description posted on Robbins’ website.

Representatives for Robbins, who is a popular motivational speaker, personal finance adviser and bestselling author, were not immediately available for comment.

According to media reports, 21 out of 6000 people who walked on hot coals at a Robbins event in 2012 in California were treated for burns.

Most people avoid burns because coals are not efficient conductors of heat, but standing too long in one spot and other factors can increase the risk. In the 2012 incident, there was speculation that the large number of people participating caused the lines of firewalkers to slow down, raising chances of burns.(Additional reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert reported to a Minnesota federal prison as scheduled Wednesday, one year after an explosive indictment into secret hush-money payments sparked the rapid fall of a local coaching legend who became one of the country's most powerful politicians.

Hastert passed through razor-wire fences just before noon at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester. He was seated in a wheelchair with his wife, Jean, a few steps behind.

He must serve about 85 percent of a 15-month sentence before his anticipated release next summer followed by two years' supervised release and sex-offender treatment.

His surrender was Hastert's first public sighting since April, when a federal judge rejected the former GOP powerhouse's plea for probation. U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin called Hastert, 74, a "serial child molester" and forced him to admit he abused male students before he entered politics when he was a Yorkville High School coach.

Hastert did not face sex-related charges because prosecutors said the statute of limitations had long expired. He instead admitted to committing a financial crime -- withdrawing more than U$950,000 from banks in a way that would avoid detection, in an effort to keep a victim quiet.

"What I did was wrong, and I regret it,' Hastert said at sentencing. Of his former student athletes, he said: "They looked to me, and I took advantage of them."

The multibuilding Rochester facility sits on a sprawling campus and was once home to former U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, televangelist Jim Bakker and Bob Probert, the former Chicago Blackhawks [ice hockey] enforcer who served three months on a cocaine charge.How the feds uncovered Dennis Hastert's sordid past

It is one of only five such prison hospitals that serve male inmates at all security levels. Besides Hastert, the most recognizable inmate currently housed there is Jared Loughner, the perpetrator of the 2011 Tucson, Arizona, shooting that killed six people and injured then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Although it is a federal prison, the tranquil location has more of a hospital-like setting. Security is focused around the perimeter and inmates may move around -- outside of designated count times -- with relative freedom. Staff is not armed within the buildings.

But, prison experts said, make no mistake: Hastert will be subject to traditional prison rules and regulations that include a strip search upon entry, random shakedown searches, urine testing for drugs and he will have to submit a DNA sample. He won't be kept in a locked cell and rarely would be handcuffed or shackled, but Hastert will have to follow regulations that dictate when he eats, sleeps and showers.

Hastert reports to prison

"There are no (federal prison) country clubs anymore. That myth has been dispelled," said John Webster, a former attorney who served a stint in federal prison and later started the Nashville, Tenn.-based National Prison and Sentencing Consultants in 2002. "In this kind of an environment, he's not going to be anyone's 'favorite son' anymore, but as long as he is not a jerk to staff and other inmates, he won't have a problem."

The prison is affiliated with the nearby Mayo Clinic, with doctors and nurses on site providing high-level medical services to the approximately 700 male inmates assigned there who need long-term physical and mental health care. More than 23 percent of Rochester's inmates committed a sex-related offense so Hastert would not necessarily be singled out, federal authorities said.

He is allowed to wear his wedding band, but prison-issued garb will replace all other personal attire. In the coming days, staff will acquaint him with the prison and its rules and assess his medical and psychological needs and work suitability through a detailed social screening.

He may speak on the phone for up to 300 minutes per month and share an embrace with loved ones on designated visiting days each week. But inmates such as Hastert are barred from using cellphones or the internet. He'll have access to a shared television room, newspapers, a law library, and indoor and outdoor fitness and recreation.

In October, Hastert admitted in a plea deal with federal prosecutors that he withdrew the money to pay U$3,500,000 to a longtime acquaintance -- identified in court records only as Individual A -- to hide wrongdoing.

The case began to unfold four years ago after a Yorkville (Illinois) bank noticed the suspicious withdrawals. In December 2014, FBI agents confronted Hastert in his Plano home. He told them he was trying to keep his money safe, but his attorney later alleged Hastert was a victim of a $3.5 million extortion plot.

Hastert claimed that Individual A, a former Yorkville standout wrestler, had falsely accused him of sexual abuse decades ago when he was a coach. At the request of authorities, Hastert secretly recorded two calls to Individual A to catch him making threats, but agents soon realized it was Hastert who was lying.

Agents then questioned Individual A, who told them Hastert inappropriately touched him when he was a child in a motel room on a wrestling trip. At least four other students involved in Hastert's wrestling program, including an equipment manager who is deceased, alleged at some point their coach sexually abused them in the 1960s and 1970s.

Hastert was indicted 28 May 2015. But authorities refused to acknowledge the motive behind the hush-money payments. Tribune reporters spent several months contacting scores of former wrestlers and students, filing two dozen open-records requests in an effort to undercover the truth.

The Tribune's investigation eventually uncovered child sexual abuse allegations involving at least four of the victims. One of them was Scott Cross, a brother of former Illinois House GOP leader Tom Cross. Scott Cross told the Tribune he was victimized in the fall of 1979 when he was wrestling captain.

Cross asked the Tribune to keep his identity confidential until he spoke out publicly. The Tribune honored his wishes until he appeared at Hastert's sentencing hearing and confronted his former coach while delivering an emotional statement.

Tribune reporters also uncovered the identity of Individual A last winter. He has repeatedly declined comment, but his wife acknowledged her husband is a victim. He has since filed a Kendall County breach-of-contract lawsuit seeking the remaining $1.8 million -- plus accrued interest -- he argues Hastert still owes him. The civil case is due back in court next month.

Finally, 300 days after the bombshell indictment and days before the Tribune published its investigation, the words "sexual abuse" were uttered on the record in an empty courtroom during an unannounced hearing, according to a transcript of the proceeding the Tribune later obtained.

At Hastert's sentencing, Jolene Burdge said one of her brothers, Stephen Reinboldt, confided to her long before his 1995 death at age 42 of AIDS that Hastert had sexual contact with him in high school. Reinboldt, who graduated in 1971, was an equipment manager for the school's wresting and football teams.

Burdge confronted Hastert outside her brother's visitation, but it would be another two decades before she found justice.

"You don't realize how heavy of a burden it is until you no longer have to carry it," Burdge told the Tribune Wednesday. "I was thinking what Steve would say and I think it'd be, 'Thank you for never giving up on me and making people see I was telling the truth.'"

U.S. Navy slapsdrinking ban on 18,600 sailors in JapanThe U.S. Navy slapped a drinking ban on sailors stationed in Japan on Monday and halted off-base liberty after police arrested a U.S. sailor on the southern island of Okinawa on suspicion of drunk driving following a car crash that injured two people.

"For decades we have enjoyed a strong relationship with the people of Japan. It is imperative that each sailor understand how our actions affect that relationship and the U.S. Japan alliance as a whole," Rear Admiral Matthew Carter, commander of U.S. naval forces in Japan said in a press release on Monday.

The United States has 18,600 sailors stationed in Japan.

The latest incident came as the U.S. military observes a 30-day mourning period at bases on Okinawa after an American civilian working for the U.S. military there was arrested on suspicion of dumping the body of a 20-year-old Japanese woman.

Renewed anger among residents in Okinawa at the U.S. military presence threatens a plan to relocate the U.S. Marines' Futenma air base to a less populous part of Okinawa, which was agreed in 1995 after the rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by U.S. military personnel sparked huge anti-base demonstrations.

Okinawa's governor and many residents want the Marines off the island.

All U.S. Navy sailors in Japan will be kept on base and banned from drinking until "all personnel understand the impact of responsible behavior on the U.S.-Japan alliance," the press release said.

"Sailors living off base will be allowed to travel to and from base and conduct only "essential activities."

The restrictions do not apply to family members and civilian U.S. contractors, which brings the total number of people to 35,000, but they are being encouraged to observe the rules "in a spirit of solidarity," a spokesman for the U.S. Navy said.

05 June 2016

My favorite Ramadan greeting -- the crescent moon and a bright star from the night sky. I didn't filch it, I got permission from the Wisconsin astronomer.

Click image to enlarge.

The magazine Sky & Telescope is peppered with scholarly and scientific articles about the origin of Islam's symbol, the crescent moon near a bright star. Clearly such a sign must have been in the night sky at a historically significant event -- probably a battle triumph for early Islam. But so far, it's all guesswork -- even Muslim experts, astronomers and historians, haven't a clue.

Above -- and probably the mysterious original crescent moon and star -- the bright star isn't a star, but a planet. The frequency of such "bright stars" suggests Venus, but a few other pre-telescope naked-eyeplanets can shine brightly under common conditions. (Had it been Mars, observers would have noted its red tinge and immortalized the color in all subsequent depictions -- several national flags, e.g.)

If you know, or think you know, what (i.e., when) the origin of the crescent moon and bright star symbol is, please Leave A Comment.Within a day the lunar month Ramadan will begin. Worldwide, the time is not precise. Many belief groups of Islam have their own set of rules to time Ramadan's start.

But none of the 1,600,000,000 Muslims on Earth will be more than a few hours behind or ahead of the others.

Last year VleeptronZ did not -- as it has without fail for a long bunch of years -- wish our world Ramadan Kareem. And Ramadan Mubarak. A Generous Ramadan, a Blessed Ramadan.

(((Vleeptron Dude))), who is almost always Perfect in all things Intellectual & Spiritual, screwed the pooch bigtime last Ramadan.

I once read that Roman Catholics recognize only one Unforgiveable Sin: Despair.

Because it is a clear, direct insult to God that you do not believe God will make even the most bleak, dark situation better.

And last Ramadan (((Vleeptron Dude))) finally succumbed to Despair.

We have a TV. I am an obsessive reader of Google News. I watch BBC, I used to watch al-Jazeera America until they pulled the plug (new Emir). Sometimes as an emetic I turn on Fox News. I love Inside Edition.

The best IMHO: Reuters. But AP grabs the Excellence & Trust prize from them now and then.

And (((I))) just couldn't take it anymore. BBC wins the prize every day for coating the world with a patina of dignity. The babies in the bombed MSF hospital are still dead and smoldering, but you don't feel as ashamed of being a human being when BBC polishes and presents it for you. (And almost every ghastly story at least ends up with a one-sentence dash of Hope for a Less Horrible Future.)Of course there is still Hope for the World. Any adult in reasonably good health, or well-maintained on an SSRI, knows there is Hope. Even Hope that will turn out to have been True, to have been Real Hope to cure and end a terrible and shameful and public human-caused festering plague.

Last Ramadan I succumbed to Accidie. It is the way Satan -- or Dark Guy, or Slenderman, whatever you call him -- sneaks up on your soul / spirit and fills it with Despair, Hopelessness.

The protracted 19th Crusade finally got to me.

Rather than Richard Lionheart, it has been to this point led by The Stupidest Jerks in the Occident, and now, just as Ramadan is about to begin, the Stupid Jerks in the Occident have nominated Donald Trump to take over as Full-Time Top Crusade Commander.

Onward Christian SoldiersMarching as to WarWith the Cross of JesusGoing on before

He promises to Make America Great Again, and ban all Muslims from entering the United States, and kill the families of Muslim terrorists, and Bring Back Torture -- mostly for Muslims, but I think this guy will torture Girl Scouts or Nuns or Julie Andrews, and charge people to see it live on Pay Cable.

He lives in one of many gold skyscrapers he owns. You can spot all of them because they have TRUMP screaming off them in 37,000-point type.

This is not the Main Point of this post, but as long as I got you on the line, do whatever you can, donate, demonstrate non-violently, to prevent Donald Trump from raping the USA presidential election and becoming the 45th President of the United States.

The Point of this post is to wish all (((my))) neighbors Ramadan Kareem.

I have adjusted my medication and have lifted myself a few centimeters above the Slough of Despond.

But as the 19th Crusade slogs ever onward with no light to be seen at the end of the tunnel, as Trump nears the Presidency, and as Bashar al-Assad remains the Hereditary Tyrant of Syria (he's also an ophthalmologist), keeping myself above the Slough is going to get harder and harder.

There follows a Guide to Ramadan by Aftab Ali in The Independent (UK) which seems competent and authoritative about the Holy Month in which Allah communicated the Quran to Muhammed in Arabic. (Aftad Ali sure knows a lot more about Islam and Ramadan than (((Vleeptron Dude))) does.)CAUTION: Read the entire Independent Ramadan article closely.

But you might be wise to send the kids out of the room and fasten your seatbelt before reading the Readers' Comments that follow.

The Comments will show you why (((Vleeptron Dude))) succumbed to despair last Ramadan. A cloud of ignorance and hatred has descended on my planet.

(((Vleeptron Dude))) supports Free Speech. Free Speech is not always pretty. Everything you hear in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea is pretty.

While we welcome Ramadan and learn about the holy month, put on the headphones and listen to THIS.

===========================

Ramadan 2016: When does Islam's holy month start? What are the rules of fasting? Everything you need to know

With 22% of the world's population gearing up for the
most important month in the Islamic calendar, here are the five things
you need to know

It is a big week for the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims - 22 per cent of the entire global population - as they get ready for the holy month of Ramadan.

The annual period will see prayer, fasting, and giving to charity become the focus of their everyday lives for an entire month.For non-Muslims and those less familiar with the holiest month in the
Islamic calendar, here are the five main things you need to know about
Ramadan 2016:

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the ninth month of Islam’s lunar calendar, a system which
sees each month begin at the sighting of the new moon. According to some
scholars, the month is said to be the one in which the Qur'anwas first revealed, making it the holiest and most sacred month for Muslims.

It is the period when Muslims fast every day from sunrise to sunset,
and is one of the five pillars - or duties - of Islam. Not only do
Muslims abstain from food and drink, it is also a time of deep
contemplation and prayer to Allah, and also charitable generosity.

All able-bodied Muslims are required to take part in Ramadan.
Although there is some debate over the age at which young Muslims should
begin to take part, it is typically at around ten to 12-years-old.

When does Ramadan begin this year?

The holy month is set to begin on or around 7 June, depending on the
sighting of the new moon which will tell when the ninth month begins. In
the UK, and in many other countries, confirmation of the new moon comes
from Saudi Arabia’s highest court, the Supreme Court.

Because lunar months are shorter than solar months - which are used
elsewhere - the month moves back by around 10 days each year.

What is a typical day like during Ramadan?

Waking up before the sun rises, at around 4am, Muslims will eat and
drink to prepare for the day ahead. Once the sun is up, there will be no
more meals, drinking, smoking, or any sexual activity until sundown,
also known as iftar.

Iftar then typically begins by consuming dates and sweet,
milky drinks - which provide a much-needed energy boost - before quickly
taking part in post-iftar prayers. After prayers, dinner will be had, typically after 9pm, before fasting begins again the following day.

Overall, Muslims will be fasting for around 17 hours a day this year,
or around 530 hours throughout the entire month. Over the course of the
day, in the UK and across the world, Muslim businesses will close as
the faithful tend to their prayers and read the Qur’an.

What’s the purpose of Ramadan?

Islam is a religion which sees its followers help the poor and less
fortunate throughout their lifetimes, with a particular focus on this
element of the faith during its holiest month.

While hungry and thirsty throughout the fasting day, Muslims have a
constant reminder of the suffering of the poor in less fortunate parts
of the world.

Fasting is also seen as an opportunity to exercise self-control,
cleanse the mind, body, and spirit, and build a greater connection with
Allah through prayer which can, ultimately, bring about peace.

When does the month end and how is it marked?

Beginning at the start of the month of Shawwal - the 10th month of the Islamic calendar - Ramadan 2016 is set to draw to a close on or around 7 July, depending on the sighting of the new moon which, again, will be declared by Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court.

Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations
then take over which can, in some countries, last for up to three days.
Muslims then come together to be with their families, prepare great
feasts, exchange gifts, continue to give to charity, and forgive and
forget any rifts.

Above all, they pray and thank Allah for giving them the strength to get through the holy month.

The fasting starts from dawn (not sunrise as mentioned in the report) until sunset.

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0

1 day ago

KatStarr

I
guess that Allah didn't realise that the Sun hardly sets in the high
Northern latitudes, and not at all in places like Spitzbergen, during
the summer.

Do you think He meant Muslims not to
live not too far North or He was just dumb? In that case He must be the
dumbest Supreme Being anyone has ever worshiped.

Or perhaps or was all invented by an ignorant human being.

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2 replies

-1

1 day ago

PaceMaker

@KatStarr
Is your ignorance painful? Can you feel it coursing through your body,
or have you just become so accustom to it that you don't feel it
anymore?

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+1

15 hours ago

Ali Khodaei

Salaam (Peace)

Quran's
rules are like the constitution. They do not give the detail for every
single person and every single situation. They sketch out the general
path and let humans to contemplate and elaborate on the rest based on
Quran's verses and other Islamic sources.

For
those who live in the farthest North, it is accepted to fast according
to the time of Mecca. That is to say, they can break their fast
earlier.

This month is not only about avoiding
to eat or drink. It is to become "human" and respect ones own soul and
the others and not to insult.

Thank you.

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+1

2 days ago

baxxxxxx

Fasting from Dawn to Sunset. So it is no different to the lifestyle of those on a night shift, wow.

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2 days ago

Hugh

Very
informative article, as usual some people who perhaps should be reading
The Sun even manage to moan about this. I'm not Muslim but will be
keeping (or try to) at least 4 fasts this year (1 per week) after
keeping 1 last year. I just think it's amazing what the human body can
adapt to and no there's no liquid allowed at all! Any money I would
have spent on food for those 4 days will be going to a local charity.
That which unites us is greater than that which divides us and we can
learn a great deal from each others religion.................

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2 replies

+4

2 days ago

pagan

Bla bla bla

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-2

10 minutes ago

JMOrdoghan

All the best.. It's a great experience indeed.

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0

2 days ago

TomJoad91

Very informative, thanks.

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+3

3 days ago

Rosanne.Smithe

Ramadan...between meal fasting.

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+1

3 days ago

joanbradley

I'm
not remotely interested in this primitive, Third World religion. ps
where are the women in the photo (feminists - any comments)?

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3 replies

-7

1 day ago

PaceMaker

Who cares!

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15 hours ago

Ali Khodaei

Hello!

Christianity, Judaism, Islam and most of other religions were born in what you call the Third World! Middle East .

Women
are not in this photo because they are not an object to be sold on
magazine covers nor for those who want to "watch" them.

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+1

7 minutes ago

JMOrdoghan

The
'Third World Religion' you're talking about is the one that made Muslim
scholars explore algebra. Without it you wouldn't have been able to
type your nonsense!

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0

3 days ago

NE#12

It
cannot be the case that all drink is banned, they must make way for
water surely? A brief check online shows that Kuwait City, Riyadh,
Islamabad and Dubai all have temperatures in the mid 30's-40c. I cannot
see how you could last 17 hours in that weather with no fluids that
would be beyond stupid and highly dangerous.

Each to their own,
but the whole idea of fasting has never made sense to me. Why would a
God want you to put yourself through pain and extreme hunger/thirst to
prove your loyalty? A month of hightened charity makes sense, alot of
religion is involved in that so getting the average person involved
makes sense too, but not this.

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2 replies

0

2 days ago

Alitar_2241

I
really dont see what is hard I fast, I have fasted in extreme hot
weather it isn't bad. to fast is to show how you care for the poor and
not so fortunate it is also the time to show your worship strength as
the gates of heaven open in this month and the gates of hell close.
fasting usual goes on from around 5am to 6pm-7pm and its something I
have done from the age of 5. first couple of days it may be hard but
your body adapts.

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0

4 minutes ago

JMOrdoghan

Muslims
in the Middle East fast for less hours, plus the working hours usually
change- start late and finish late. Also air conditions are everywhere.

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3 days ago

Quatra

Nice. Another excuse for not working.
Hello BREXIT.
Ah, Britain. Their eternal feeling of guilt of their colonial past.
Poorly
paid managers, earning 12,000 pounds a year, endless buildings with 10
chimneys on the roof, pimpled "special forces", a royal house costing
billions of pounds, gay spies, etc. etc. A country living, at least.
half a century back in time.
And now, they want to be independent from Europe. Well. the UK isn't Switzerland. Not even close.
The rest of Europe is silent. That should be an omen for things to come.

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-2

3 days ago

Too big to fail

Ha
ha! Trick headline Indy. I dont need to know anything about Ramadan
because we live in a free country not an Islamic caliphate. I will eat
whenever I choose thankyou.